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Letter to the Editor of the Irish Times; Specialist Family Law Courts

Sir, – Further to Colm Keena’s report (News, November 24th), we welcome the fact that legislation is now being prepared to set up specialist family courts.

However, both this commitment and the Mediation Bill were included in the current Programme for Government and neither has been delivered during this Government’s term of office.

The specialist family courts are, to quote Minister Humphreys, are “designed to facilitate as far as possible the resolution of disputes by means of alternative resolution methods, including mediation, so as to provide for a less adversarial, less stressful and less costly way of resolving disputes”.

The Mediation Bill would provide better access to mediation services and deliver those same benefits to the general public, legal services, businesses, organisations and to the state.

Let’s hope and ensure that the new incoming government enacts both pieces of legislation as soon as possible into its term of office.

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